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21 June 2023 | Story Amanda Tongha | Photo Samkelo Fetile
Enhancing students’ linguistic abilities
Language teaching professionals from Southern Africa attended a two-day symposium on foreign language acquisition practice on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus.

Language teaching professionals from across Southern Africa recently gathered at the University of the Free State (UFS) to discuss the need for benchmarking and standardising teaching and assessment practices. 

With the aim of empowering lecturers and researchers responsible for language acquisition and delivering competent students to ensure their employability globally, the educators addressed the challenges of language acquisition in the region. It was the first time that educators from different language disciplines, including Dutch, German, French, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Sesotho, and Sign Language, met to discuss standardisation and best practices in teaching and assessment.

The symposium, which was hosted on the Bloemfontein Campus on 8 and 9 June 2023, brought together educators from the UFS, North-West University, University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Pretoria, Rhodes University, University of South Africa, Stellenbosch University, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Limpopo, and Sol Plaatje University. They were joined by participants from the University of Namibia and the National University of Lesotho, providing a regional perspective. 

Standardising language acquisition in Southern Africa 

Prof Angelique van Niekerk, Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, says the meeting marked a movement towards delivering competent students in order to increase their employability in languages such as Dutch, German, French, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Sesotho, and Sign Language. 

“It is probably the first time that the different language disciplines and colleagues from disciplines involved in language acquisition in Southern Africa have met to discuss the need for benchmarking and standardising.” 

“The symposium was not on multilingualism per se, but as language scholars, we support multilingualism. Social cohesion is affected positively if people and their culture and language are accepted and thus used.”

Talking about the need for a reference framework for benchmarking languages, Dr Michelle Joubert, Subject Specialist in the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning, told delegates in her keynote address that a coordinated system provides a basis for the mutual recognition of language qualifications. 

“Our aim is to develop a framework of standards for indigenous and foreign languages to reflect the political and social realities of a multilingual and multicultural South Africa, which aims to form a single South African education, employment, and residential space for its citizens.”

In another keynote address, Dr Carina Grobler, Subject Chair and Lecturer in French at the North-West University, highlighted effective assessment tools to enhance students’ ability to learn additional languages. 

Prof Van Niekerk says many new initiatives, such as the sharing of resources on centralised platforms, were some of the gains following the symposium; a follow-up event is planned for 2024. 

News Archive

Link between champagne bubbles and the UFS?
2012-11-16

Prof. Lodewyk Kock with an example of a front page of the publication FEMS Yeast Research, as adapted by F. Belliard, FEMS Central Office.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar
15 November 2012

What is the link between the bubbles in champagne and breakthrough research being done at the Mayo Clinic in America? Nano research being done at our university.

Prof. Lodewyk Kock of Biotechnology says a human being consists of millions of minute cells that are invisible to the eye. The nano technology team at the UFS have developed a technique that allows researchers to look into such a cell, as well as other microorganisms. In this way, they can get an idea of what the cell’s “insides” look like.

The UFS team – consisting of Profs. Kock, Hendrik Swart (Physics), Pieter van Wyk (Centre for Microscopy), as well as Dr Chantel Swart (Biotechnology), Dr Carlien Pohl (Biotechnology) and Liza Coetsee (Physics) – were amazed to see that the inside of cells consist of a maze of small tunnels or blisters. Each tunnel is about 100 and more nanometres in diameter – about one ten thousandth of a millimetre – that weaves through the cells in a maze.

It was also found that these tunnels are the “lungs” of the cells. Academics doing research on yeast have had to sit up and take notice of the research being done at the UFS – to the extent that these “lungs” will appear on the front page of the highly acclaimed FEMS Yeast Research for all of 2013.

The Mayo Clinic, in particular, now wants to work with the UFS to study cancer cells in more detail in order to fight this disease, says Prof. Kock. The National Cancer Institute of America has also shown interest. This new nano technology for biology can assist in the study and development of nano medicine that can be used in the treatment of cancer and other life threatening diseases. Nano medicine uses nano metal participles that are up to one billionth of a metre in size.

Prof. Kock says laboratory tests indicate that nano medicine can improve the efficacy of anti-cancer medicine, which makes the treatment less toxic. “According to the Mayo Clinic team, nano particles are considered as a gold cartridge which is being fired directly at a cancer tumour. This is compared to fine shot that spreads through the body and also attacks healthy cells.”

“This accuracy implies that the chemotherapy dose can be lowered with fewer side effects. The Mayo Clinic found that one-tenth of the normal dosage is more effective against pancreas cancer in this way than the full dosage with a linkage to nano particles. According to the clinic, this nano medicine could also delay the spread of cancer,” says Prof. Kock.

The nano particles are used as messengers that convey anti-cancer treatment to cancer cells, where it then selectively kills the cancer cells. The transport and transfer of these medicines with regard to gold nano particles can be traced with the UFS’s nano technology to collect more information, especially where it works on the cell.

“With the new nano technology of the UFS, it is possible to do nano surgery on the cells by slicing the cells in nanometre thin slices while the working of the nano medicine is studied. In this way, it can be established if the nano medicine penetrates the cells or if it is only associated with the tiny tunnels,” says Prof. Kock.

And in champagne the small “lungs” are responsible for the bubbles. The same applies to beer and with this discovery a whole new reach field opens for scientists.

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